Beauty of A Challenge at Randwick

No matter what the result of the $500,000 Gr2 Challenge Stakes (100m) at Royal Randwick, it will be great to get a guide on how the up-and-coming Written Beauty (Written Tycoon-Beauty World, by Danehill Dancer), a winner of five of her six starts to date, goes up against the proven Group 1 Sprinter and Horse of the Year Nature Strip (Nicconi-Strikeline, by Desert Sun), who was super impressive in the Gr1 Lightning Stakes last time out. With a 4.5kg weigh pull and a good barrier in three, jockey Tommy Berry will get every chance to test out the ability of Written Beauty as she aims to topple Nature Strip who took victory in last year's Challenge Stakes before an absolute 2-length demolition job in the Gr1 TJ Smith Stakes at his following start. With Nature Strip currently at prohibitive odds in the market with Written Beauty on the next line, another runner given a chance in the betting is the Joe Pride-trained Eduardo (Host-Blushing, by Fantastic Light) who has a solid first up record with five top three finishes from six first up runs.

Nature Strip is odds-on for the Challenge Stakes (pic: Steve Hart)